Wentworth Shire deputy mayor Paul Cohrs found guilty of murdering mum in Mildura home

A little boy inside his great grandmother’s home when she was shot dead by her “evil” son slept with weapons by his bed due to his crippling fear of intruders and violence.

Former Wentworth Shire Council deputy mayor Paul Cohrs was found guilty of shooting dead his 82-year-old mother Bette Cohrs in October 2018. Picture: David Crosling

A little boy inside his great grandmother’s home when she was shot dead by her “evil” and “despicable” son slept with weapons by his bed due to his crippling fear of intruders and violence, a court heard.

Former Wentworth Shire deputy mayor Paul Cohrs, 64, was found guilty of murdering his mother Bette Cohrs-Schulz, 81, at her Red Cliffs home, south of Mildura, in October 2018 following a years-long feud over family business dealings.

He is also facing a charge of murder in the NSW courts over the shooting death of his brother Raymond Cohrs, some 100km away at a rural family homestead earlier that day.

Real estate agent Michael Fernandez was also held hostage by Cohrs, who handcuffed him inside a shed in the hours between the family killings which ended in an unsuccessful suicide attempt by Cohrs.

His elderly mother was babysitting her four-year-old great grandson when Cohrs burst into her home, shooting her in the kitchen near a wall of framed family photos.

Her great grandson, now aged 10, bravely relived those terrifying moments in the Supreme Court on Monday.

Paul Cohrs (top row, second from right), when he was the Wentworth Shire Deputy Mayor, in 2016.

“I was in the toilet and I heard a bang. I walked around and found nana lying on the ground. I crouched down and she had blood on her. I tried to wake her but she didn’t,” the boy said.

“I was very scared and ran into the playroom. I didn’t know what to do so I went outside and sat on nana’s chair with her dogs.

“My nana was kind and I loved her a lot. I feel scared of the dark and that someone will come into my house.”

His mother, Kristy Cohrs, the daughter of Paul Cohrs, said her son now scans every room for danger and is too scared to sleep alone.

“That day still doesn’t seem real, like it was something out of a horror movie,” she said.

“If (my son) had come out (of the toilet) the shrapnel would have gotten him and he wouldn’t be here either – every mother’s worst nightmare.

The court found Bette Cohrs was murdered by her son Paul Cohrs in 2018.

“He used to grab things to hide next to his bed that he thought he could use as a weapon if he needed to such as a baseball bat.”

Several family members told the court they feared for their own safety in the lead up to the shootings.

Cohrs suffered a delusional disorder but failed to convince a jury his mental condition should absolve him of the responsibility of his mother’s murder.

Instead, it was found he was driven by “hatred, anger and grievance” after years of fighting with his brother and mother over the family’s two roofing business, valued at $14m.

Justice Lesley Taylor said “this was a murder carried out with anger and bitterness”.

Cohrs will be sentenced at a later date.